1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications and in particular to telephony services. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method, telephone apparatus and computer program product for selective filtering of an incoming phone call.
2. Description of the Related Art
A widely subscribed to telephony service offered by telephone companies is caller information of an incoming phone call, also known as caller ID. With the caller ID service, the telephone company transmits encoded information to the customer""s telephone when a second party is calling the customer. The encoded information (caller ID information) typically includes the name and phone number of the calling party. The customer may purchase or lease equipment that decodes and displays the encoded information before the customer picks up the phone. The caller ID processing device is typically connected in parallel with the handset of the customer""s telephone and displays the telephone number and possibly the name of the calling party, if available, without the customer""s telephone switching from a xe2x80x9con-hookxe2x80x9d state to an xe2x80x9coff-hookxe2x80x9d state. The caller ID information is generally sent to the customer from the telephone company""s switching units as a frequency shift keyed (FSK) encoded binary signal that occurs between the first and second ringing cycle of the customer""s telephone. The caller ID processing device demodulates the received FSK signal to provide a binary signal that is, in turn, decoded and supplied to a display device. This allows the customer to make a more informed decision as to whether or not to answer the phone. If the customer does not answer the phone, an off-hook signal is never received by the telephone company switching units. Consequently, the ringing continues until the calling party hangs up or the call is redirected to an alternate destination, e.g. the customer""s voicemail or answering machine.
Call-waiting is another well known telephony feature that is provided as a service by the telephone companies. In conventional call-waiting, when a customer who subscribes to the call-waiting service is engaged in a telephone conversation with another party and a third party calls that customer, the customer receives an alerting signal, such as a subscriber access signal tone, while the third party continues to receive audible ringing. If the call-waiting customer chooses to receive the call from the third party, a switch-hook flash or pressing a selected button on the telephone set holds the second party while the customer""s connection is switched to the third party. On the other hand, if the customer decides to ignore the subscriber access signal tone, a second subscriber access signal tone is generated after a few seconds. If the second subscriber access signal tone is also ignored by the customer, the third party is consequently given a busy signal. Alternatively, the third party may continue to receive the ringing tone and the customer also continues to receive the subscriber access signal tone, until the customer accepts the call from the third party or the third party hangs up.
Incoming telephone calls are frequently received during times when people would rather not be disturbed. For a consumer, this may include times when the subscriber is watching a rental movie, taking a nap, playing a game with the family, etc. In the case of a business person, these times may include receiving a call during a meeting, or while trying to work on a report with a short deadline. One approach to solve this problem, in the case of a consumer, is to simply take the. telephone off-hook. In the case of a business person, an advanced telephone system might include a xe2x80x9cDo Not Disturbxe2x80x9d feature that directs the incoming call immediately to an alternate destination, e.g., a voice mail system.
In the situation where an individual is already engaged in a telephone conversation with another person and a third party is attempting to contact the individual, a call-waiting alerting signal is utilized to alert the individual of the incoming call. Interruptions from incoming calls, however, may be undesired when the individual is currently engaged in a telephone conversation, e.g., a long distance call or a conference call. The presence of the alerting signals may become more than an annoyance and a distraction, ultimately disrupting the telephone conversation of the individual. An obvious solution is to disable the call-waiting feature. There are situations, however, when the individual may want to be notified of the incoming call. For example, the individual may be engaged in a telephone conversation with his immediate manager and does want to be disturbed by anybody but his immediate manager""s superior, e.g., president of the company.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved method of utilizing the caller ID and call-waiting services provided by the telephone company that mitigates the above-mentioned limitations. In particular, there is a need in the art for a method that selectively filters incoming telephone calls to a first party who is already engaged in a telephone conversation with a second party.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system, method and computer program product for providing to a first party engaged in a telephonic conversation with a second party, selective filtering of an incoming telephone call from a third party.
To achieve the foregoing object, and in accordance with the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a method, telephone apparatus and computer program product for providing to a first party engaged in a telephonic conversation with a second party, selective filtering of an incoming telephone call from a third party are disclosed. The method includes: (1) retrieving a caller ID information of the third party, (2) determining a priority level associated with the third party, (3) comparing a priority level associated with the second party to the priority level of the third party and (4) alerting, in response to the third party having a higher priority level than the second party, the first party to an occurrence of the incoming call. The method further includes redirecting, in response to the third party having a lower priority level than the second party, the incoming call to an alternate destination.
The telephone apparatus includes: (1) an incoming call detection circuit coupled to a telecommunication network for detecting and retrieving a caller ID information of the third party, (2) a memory device for storing data relating to assigned priority levels associated with a plurality of caller ID information corresponding to a plurality of calling parties, (3) a processor coupled to the incoming call detection circuit and the memory device for determining and comparing priority levels associated with the second and third parties and (4) means for alerting, responsive to the third party having a higher priority level than the second party, the first party to an occurrence of said incoming call. The telephone apparatus further includes switching means for redirecting, in response to the third party having a lower priority level than the second party, the incoming call to an alternate destination.
The present invention utilizes the subscriber services of caller ID and call waiting to provide to a user a novel method to selectively filter any incoming calls from a third party to the user while the user is already engaged in a telephonic conversation with another party. The method utilizes caller ID to identify the third party and, in one embodiment, employs an audible signal from the call waiting service to inform the user of a higher priority incoming call.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the alternate destination is a voicemail of the first party. Alternatively, the alternate destination may be the first party""s answering machine or secretary. In a related embodiment, the first, second and third parties are coupled to a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN). Alternatively, in another advantageous embodiment, the telecommunication network is a packet network, e.g., the Internet.
In another embodiment of the present invention, alerting the first party to the incoming call includes enabling a call-waiting function. In the event that the first party does not subscribe to a call-waiting service, an audible tone generator may be employed to provide an audible signal to inform the first party to the presence of an incoming call.
The foregoing description has outlined, rather broadly, preferred and alternative features of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject matter of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.